William Burke was born in Urney, County Tyrone. In 1818 he moved to Scotland to work on a canal as a navvy. By 1827 he was living in a lodging house in Edinburgh kept by William Hare from Derry. Burke and Hare sold for dissection the body of an elderly person who had died in the house. They received £10 from Dr Robert Knox of Edinburgh University. In the next few years they disposed of at least fifteen people by intoxicating and then suffocating them and selling them to Dr Knox. In 1828 neighbours became suspicious when Marjorie Campbell disappeared and her corpse turned up in Dr Knox's house. On the 28th of January 1829, on the evidence of Hare, Burke was found guilty of murder and hanged in Edinburgh. His body was given to anatomists.

Born:	1792
Died:	29 January 1820